Everyone has a favourite Christmas tune.

Often it is a short list, with only a few festive songs guaranteed to make you reach for the eggnog and not the arsenic.

Scotland has had a mixed record in this area, with just one Christmas number one since the charts began.

The real secret to finding acceptable Scottish tunes to get into the spirit of the season is to look a bit deeper at some alternative attempts by lesser-known artists.

So here we are with some of the best, best-known and best-forgotten gems from Scotland's Christmas canon.

We start with our nation's greatest musical Christmas chart achievement. As far as we can see, this is the only Scottish artist who has reached the coveted number one spot over the festive period.

A dismal record I think you'll agree, so thank the baby Jesus for Leon Jackson's X Factor-endorsed ballad When you Believe.

The sole Scottish winner of the country's premier competition to find next year's panto stars produced this winter warmer, amassing an incredible 275,000 sales in its first week.

Listen if: You enjoy well signposted key changes.

Malcolm Middleton is one half of Glasgow miserablist icons Arab Strap.

His Christmas effort has nothing at all to do with the celebration but is in fact a depressing but strangely life-affirming tribute to the fleeting and inconsequential nature of life.

Despite some significant support, We're All Going to Die stalled at 31 in the official charts. It's certainly a people's favourite, though, and has a great video.

Listen if: You hate Christmas.

Two icons from different eras coming together to re-record a classic song, and creating a magical and enduring Christmas moment.

That is exactly what happened when Bing Crosby and David Bowie took on Little Drummer Boy.

When Susan Boyle and Elvis Pressley's disembodied voice met in a version of O Come All Ye Faithful the impact on popular culture was perhaps less keenly felt.

Listen if: You don't care for the phrase "it's what he would have wanted".

Another from the melancholic school of Christmas indie hits, Glasvegas decided an entire EP's worth of festive 'cheer' was in order.

Of this collection, which also included typically positive 'Please Come Back Home' and 'F**k You it's Over', this song is the most befitting of the season.

Featuring jingling bells and plaintive use of snow, it's one of our finest attempts at a Christmas classic.

Listen if: You are spending December 25 alone after a painful break-up.

Scottish legends Deacon Blue left it relatively late in their career to take a crack at making a traditional Christmas classic.

You'll know it's Christmas features many of the usual tropes of the genre including mentions of churches, stars, jingle bells, snow, belief in non-specific quasi-religious beings and using the word Christmas about twice in each line.

A lot more positive than many of the others on this list, Deacon Blue aim squarely for the middle of the road and find it.

Listen if: You like Deacon Blue.

This popstravaganza was actually recorded for the critically-unregarded feature film Santa Claus, which has since gained a cult following.

Most famous for her theme to the Bond film For Your Eyes Only and for being one of the original talent show stars, Sheena Easton has had a rocky relationship with her home country.

She vowed never to play Scotland again after being bottled off stage and speaking in a fake American accent.

But at least we have this mawkish tribute to the festive season to remember her by.

Listen if: You enjoy cheesy Christmas films and their cheesier soundtracks.